UK Election 2015 Party Manifesti Word Clouds

It is important that you read this article till the end for a list of caveats.

You’ve got our word!

verba volant, scripta manent

What are the main parties in recent polls in England most worried about? One way to answer this question is to take at face value what it is that they have committed to in writing, in their official manifesti and using frequency analysis, to highlighted the most recurrent themes.

People-WORK!

Taking only the top three most frequent keywords the table below gives ammunition for those who think that all parties are the same. The words, “people” and “work” appear in all manifesti except for UKIP’s where “people” shares fourth place with “national” at 81 mentions each.

It is also no surprise that most parties, with the notable exception of the Conservatives, enjoy talking about themselves. Labour, LibDem and UKIP’s party names appear in the top three list. (Find all links to data and references below).

Top three words mentioned in the manifesti of the following parties.

Party

Most frequent words

Frequency

Conservatives

People

158

Conservatives

Work

137

Conservatives

Support

131

Labour

People

163

Labour

Work

152

Labour

Labour (the party)

145

LibDem

Democrats, Liberal (the party)

177, 160

LibDem

Work

170

LibDem

People

167

UKIP

UKIP (the party)

191

UKIP

EU (The European Union)

158

UKIP

Britain, British

125, 97

Education

While both the Conservatives and the LibDem mention “schools” only (101 times and 84 times respectively), Labour mentions both “education” 39 times and “schools” 39 times.

Party

School and education mentions

Total

Conservatives

Schools, 101

101

LibDem

Schools, 84

84

Labour

Education, 39 + Schools, 39

78

UKIP

Schools, 40

40

HEALTH

While both the Conservatives and the LibDem mention “schools” only (101 times and 84 times respectively), Labour mentions both “education” 39 times and “schools” 39 times.

It is important to understand the shortcomings of this approach. The number of mentions is only the beginning of your research as a voter. Frequency does not give any indication as to how this issue will be dealt with in terms of policy proposals.

“COS I’M THE TAXMAN”

For instance, all four manifesti mention the word “tax”.

Party

“Tax” mentions

Total

Conservatives

121

121

LibDem

88

88

UKIP

67

67

Labour

43

43

However, this simple table doesn’t tell the voter what each party intends to do about it, lower it, increase it, or keep it the same.

It is therefore essential to read all the documents for a more thorough understanding of what each party stands for.

Here are the links to each party’s manifesto, as well as the wordclouds in pdf format.